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Biofiltration control of pulping odors – hydrogen sulfide: performance, macrokinetics and coexistence effects of organo‐sulfur species
Author(s) -
Wani Altaf H,
Lau Anthony K,
Branion Richard MR
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4660(199901)74:1<9::aid-jctb981>3.0.co;2-b
Subject(s) - biofilter , hydrogen sulfide , chemistry , sulfur , perlite , dimethyl sulfide , biodegradation , sulfide , kraft process , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , waste management , pulp and paper industry , kraft paper , materials science , engineering , metallurgy
The work reported here describes the aerobic biodegradation of reduced sulfur compound mixtures in air streams by biofilters. Rates of removal of hydrogen sulfide as a sole substrate and in the presence of organo‐sulfur compounds were determined to see if there were any inhibitory effects of the organo‐sulfur compounds on the rate of hydrogen sulfide removal. Experiments were conducted in three bench‐scale biofilters packed with the mixtures of compost/perlite (4:1), hog fuel/ perlite (4:1), and compost/hog fuel/perlite (2:2:1), respectively. Hydrogen sulfide, the predominant odorous gas produced from kraft pulping processes, was used as the main pollutant (substrate). Other organo‐sulfur species (dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide), also emitted from kraft pulp mills, were used as competing (secondary) substrates in the waste gas stream. To describe rates of removal a Michaelis–Menten type kinetic equation was modified to incorporate the plug flow behavior of biofilters, and used in evaluating the pseudo‐kinetic parameters, V max (the maximum removal rate) and K m (the half saturation concentration), for hydrogen sulfide biodegradation, and the type of macrokinetic competition between hydrogen sulfide and the organo‐sulfur compounds. No significant differences in V max for the three biofilters were observed. The V max ranged between 136 and 147 g m −3 h −1 , while the K m varied from 44 to 59 ppmv for the three biofilters. Hydrogen sulfide elimination capacity was not affected by the presence of any of the organo‐sulfur species in all of the three biofilters, confirming earlier results that hydrogen sulfide removal in biofilters is independent of the presence of organo‐sulfur compounds mainly because of its easy biodegradability. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry